THANDI MODISEImprisoned for Life (Original biographical information included with her bracelet in 1986)

Thandi Modise was tried in the Kempton Park Regional Court along with Khowi Moses Nkosi and Slim Aaron Mogale. She was charged under the Terrorism Act, Sabotage Act, and faced charges of arson and malicious damage to property. Specifically, she was charged with undergoing military training between October 1976 and January 1978, with being in possession of a machine gun, ammunition and explosives, and with placing explosives in two department stores in Johannesburg. Modise was convicted on three charges under the Terrorism Act and sentenced November 7, 1980 to a total of sixteen years, but will effectively serve eight. Nkosi was sentenced to five years. His council lodged notice of appeal and bail was fixed at R2,000. Mogale was sentenced to two years and six months, suspended for five years. Modise told the court that she had joined the ANC (African National Congress), had the ideology of the ANC explained to her, and had received military training in Tanzania and Angola. She said that the ANC’s aim was for South Africa to belong to all its people, irrespective of color, and that everybody was entitled to enjoy equal rights. At Funda, in Angola, she was instructed in guerilla warfare, specializing in sabotage, topography and reconnaissance, and learned how to use the Scorpion and Uzi firearms. Modise was born in 1959, and was just 21 at the time of her trial. Nkosi, the father of Modise’s child, told the court that he met her in February 1979 after she returned to South Africa, and while he was employed as an outdoor salesman. Their child was born while Thandi was in custody. Nkosi and Mogale (Modise’s cousin), were charged with assisting Modise by keeping a bag containing a firearm and explosives belonging to her. Until now, the South African Political Prisoner Bracelet Program has focused on political prisoners serving life sentences. These people were used as symbols for all political prisoners in South Africa. To date, only men have been given life sentences. Due to the many requests for female prisoner bracelets, and given the integral role women have played in the liberation of South Africa, we now include Thandi Modise; the woman currently serving the longest sentence in South Africa. ____________The source of this information is International Defence and Aid’s newsletter, Focus, issues 32 and 33. We appreciate their permission to use this material.